“Did I Score? I Don’t Remember Any Other Thing”– Cam Newton Details Scary Concussion He Suffered In 2016

One of the all-time-great dual threat quarterbacks, Cam Newton, made his 2016 concussion a topic of discussion on his podcast recently. Obviously, there's been a lot of talk about concussions in the NFL in recent years - especially with the Miami Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa suffering three gruesome ones in the past couple of years. Concussions are no laughing matter, and the studies that have come out on the degenerative disease CTE that often affects former football players have shown that taking hits to the head over and over can be devastating. That being said, Cam Newton decided to talk about the lone concussion he suffered (that he knows of) playing in the NFL, and he brought it to the table in a more lighthearted manner. There's nothing necessarily wrong with that, but I just wanted to be clear that concussions are horrible... before we get to the clip of Cam Newton laughing about the one he had. On a recent episode of Newton's podcast, the 4th and 1 Show (we must be running pretty low on football-pun-podcast-names), Cam talked about a hit that he took as a Carolina Panther in 2016 when he was playing the Atlanta Falcons. The 6'5" QB dove for the end zone, and just as he crossed the goal line, he was hit (helmet-to-helmet) by Deion Jones. Cam Newton knew immediately that he was concussed: "There's only one time in my life that I can really say I had a concussion. I may have been seeing black dots, but it wasn't a concussion. That sh*t is different. I forgot... like blanked out. Off of a hit by the Atlanta Falcons. Bro, I didn't even know if I had scored." The quarterback got hit plenty of times in his career, and as Cam told listeners, he could tell right then and there it was different than other hits to the head he had taken. Newton then got into the process that occurred afterwards as he walked back to the sidelines and was evaluated for a concussion: "I'm going back there (to the sideline) and they're asking questions like, 'What's today date?' I'm like, 'Sh*t, blah blah blah.' They don't tell you if you're right or wrong. So I don't know what the f*ck I'm saying. Guy sitting across from me saying, 'What's your mother's name?' I say, 'Oh, Jazz.' 'What's your coach's name?' I say, 'Thomas Davis.' Guy says, 'Let me get that helmet right there.'" Again, it's a serious topic... but the visuals and facial expressions Newton gives as he goes through the interaction with the evaluator are hilarious. Just in case it wasn't clear in those quotes, the answers Newton gave weren't even close to right. His mom's name is Jackie, and his coach's name at the time was Ron Rivera. Newton went on to talk about having his helmet taken away, and what he actually does remember from the moment: "Before he took my helmet, I said, 'Okay, y'all got me... did I score?' That's the only thing I wanted to know. Cause I knew I was bullsh*tting and he hit me. Anybody who has seen that hit, bro, my leg buckled. I'm down like, 'F*ck he got me.' And I just wanted to pop up fast like, 'Sh*t I'm straight.' I just remember walking out of the stadium. I don't remember any other thing. It's just like... spotty." Sheesh... scary stuff. I guess it's good that Cam is able to laugh about it now, though? Or maybe it's not? I don't know. Before internet trolls start attacking me for just covering the story in the first place, I'll just direct you to the clip of Cam talking about his concussion: https://twitter.com/4thand1show/status/1838721576407060710